Improvement in construction of vessels



B. I. DELANO. Construction of Vessels.

No. 207,505 Patented Aug. 2?. I878.

z/pzwa UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN 1 DELANO, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 207,505, dated August27, 1878 application filed July 18, 1878.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. DELANO, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve ment in theConstruction of Vessels, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to'the accompanying drawings,making part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of a portion of the bottom of a vessel having my improvementapplied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical section enlarged; Figs. 3 and 4,details to be referred to.

My present invention has particular reference to the garboard-seam of avessel, said seam being the joint between the bottom line of plankingand the side of the keel. This seam is perfectly tight when the vesselis in a dry-dock or resting upon the stocks, because the weight of thehull or bilges causes them to sag or droop, and thereby close the seam.

hen, however, the vessel is afloat, the bilges are buoyed up and rise,causing them to separate from the keel and open the seam, the keel beingalso pressed down by the weight of the masts and the great downwardstrain of the rigging thereon, which strain also tends to lift thebilges of the vessel, and the oakum in the seam thus opened is forced bythe pressure of the water up into the vessel. the consequence of whichis that this garboardseam is usually the poorest-calked scam in thevessel, and great damage from leakage is thereby occasioned, and to stopthis leak the vessel is required to go into a dry-dock, for the reasonthat access to the garboard-seam cannot otherwise be had.

To remedy the above-mentioned difficulty is the object of my presentinvention, which consists in protecting or closing the opening at thelower edge of the garboard-seam, where the oakum is introduced, by meansof a strip or batten extending thereunder, and preferably fastened tothe side of the keel, this batten being preferably of soft wood, so thatit may more readily swell and fit snugly along the line of the bottom ofthe seam, and thus preclude the entrance of the water therein, while atthe same time the form of the batten is such as to allow of theconvenient application of the metal over the felting without danger ofcutting it and impairing its efficacy, as heretofore.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention,I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the said drawings, A represents a portion of one-half of the hull ofa vessel; B, its keel; and O, the planking forming the bottom and sides,usually termed the bilge.

The edge or inside of the lower line of planks a contiguous to the keelis cut away, as shown in Fig. 3, forming the lines I) c c d d e, and theside of the keel in proximity therewith is cut away 011 the lines I) c cd d k, the lines I) c, c d, and d e of the keel and inner edge of theplanking abutting snugly against and coinciding with each other, whilethe line d e of the planking and d h of the keel form a small acuteangle with each other at d, leaving a narrow tri. ngular or wedge shapedaperture or seam, i, into which the oakum is to be introduced andtightly driven.

The line b 0 lies in one and the same vertical plane as the side h k ofthe keel, and the line h d of the keel extends up and slightly insidethis plane, and the line d 0 forms with the line 0 b a right angle, ornearlya right angle, a shoulder, 5, being thus formed; and when thevessel is afloat the rising of the bilges tends to open thegarboard-seams, as seen in Fig. 4, and to prevent the water fromentering the seams thus opened and forcing the oakum up inside thevessel and causing it to leak I secure to each side of the keel, so asto cover these seams, a strip or batten, D,

of wood of a shape triangular, or nearly so, in-

cross-section, and slightly rounded at its lower edge, such shape beingpreferable, as it allows of the snugly fitting of the metal sheathingwithout cutting and in j uri n g the sheets of felting placedthereunder, which cutting, when the sheathing has been applied withoutthe batten over the garboard-seam, as heretofore,

has been the cause of serious leakage, great and in combination with thekeel B, and arexpense in getting into dry-dock to repair, and ranged tocover the garboard-seam t, substanconsequent delay to the voyage. tiallyas set forth.

I prefer to use a dry white-pine or other Witness my hand this 11th dayof July,

I softwood batten, as it will more readily ab- 1878.

sorb water and swell, so as to insure a tight BENJAMIN F DELANO joint. i

What I claim as my invention, and desire In presence of-- to secure byLetters Patent, is N. W. STEARNS,

The batten or strip 1), lying alongside of l. E. TESCHEMAGHER.

